


Adventures In Knitting

by decadent_mousse



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Knitting, M/M, Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-15
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-02-09 00:28:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1962018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decadent_mousse/pseuds/decadent_mousse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt decides to knit Hermann a sweater, with... mixed results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures In Knitting

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote all of this on the fly this morning. It was supposed to be a small drabble, but it kind of took off running. I looked it over a couple of times, but my brain is kind of soupy at the moment, so if you spot any glaring spelling errors and etc., please let me know! <3

Newt didn’t admit defeat easily, but he was beginning to think he really might’ve gotten in over his head this time.  He’d brought his idea up to several people, and they’d all told him it was a terrible idea, but that had just made him all the more determined to succeed.  So, yeah, okay, maybe they’d had a point when they called his idea “radical” and “over-reaching” but he couldn’t _admit_ that to anyone.  He couldn’t give up now, he’d never hear the end of the I-told-you-so’s.  He could _do this_.

He took a deep breath.  “Okay,” he muttered to himself.  “Bind off four stitches.”   

Five minutes later, he stopped to examine his handiwork and almost threw his knitting needles across the lab.  He was pretty sure sleeves were supposed to have holes big enough to stick an arm through.  

“Damn it!” he exclaimed loudly before he could stop himself.  Then, more softly, “ _Goddamn_ it.”  He re-read the instructions.  It definitely said “bind off four stitches,” but he was beginning to wonder if he actually fully understood what stitches were.  Or what yarn was.  Or knitting as a basic concept.

From somewhere behind him, he heard a familiar voice say.  “Newton, what are you doing?”

He scrambled so fast to hide the “sweater” under his desk, he almost dropped his knitting needles on the floor.  He glanced over his shoulder and watched Hermann head for his chalkboard.  “Oh, y’know, just… stuff.”

“Is this ‘stuff’ going to get us injured, killed, or fired?”

“Uh, probably not?”

Hermann gave him a thoughtful look.  Newt felt sweat trickle down his back.  He was suspicious – that was _definitely_ a suspicious look – but he had no way of knowing what Newt was up to, right?  He hadn’t seen the yarn, or the knitting needles, not this time or any of the other times Newt had almost gotten caught working on the sweater, so he might be suspicious but he didn’t _know_.  

Unless Tendo had talked.  Or Herc.  Or Mako.  Mako, who had been really sweet and supportive when everyone else had looked at him like he’d sprouted another head.  She had directed him to some Youtube tutorials that he had laughed off and said he didn’t need – _ha_.  No, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t tell Hermann.  

He didn’t think Pentecost would rat him out, either, even though he hadn’t been exactly supportive.  The Marshall had sighed when Newt had asked him for sweater tips, laid a hand on his shoulder, given him a sympathetic look, and told him he should probably just order a sweater online and Newt had gotten so indignant he’d gone online and bought three skeins of a blue-green ombré yarn and a pair of “kaiju blue” knitting needles from the Yarn Barn.  Then he’d had to send the knitting needles back because they were the wrong size for the pattern he’d picked out, and that had delayed his plan for about another month.  

Now, though, the sweater was almost finished.  He’d made it out of his blood, sweat, and tears, and all he had to do was get the damn sleeves finished and it would be ready.  

~

After the sleeve set-back, it took another few weeks to finish, because he’d realized he’d gotten the instructions for the back part of the sweater _backwards_ , somehow, and had to redo that whole section, but after _that_ – and some slight adjustments to the sleeves, because somehow one of the arm-holes had ended up in the _middle_ of the sweater, _how_ – the sweater was finally done.  

He was actually pretty nervous about giving it to Hermann.  What if he didn’t like it?  He was usually a bit more confident, but that damn sweater had taken several months of his life that he was never going to get back.  If it ended up being a _total_ failure, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle it.  

“Hey, Hermann.  I, uh, made you something.”

The mathematician glanced up from his computer and raised an eyebrow.  “You… _what_?”

“I made you something,” Newt said, with growing confidence, hiding the sweater behind his back.  

“What’s the occasion?”

“I didn’t know I needed an occasion to do something nice for my boyfriend, dude.”

Hermann swiveled around in his chair, giving Newt his full attention.  “Alright, then.  What is it?”

“A sweater.”

“A sweater?” Hermann repeated.

“Yeah.”  Newt fidgeted and brandished the sweater before he had time to change his mind.  He swung it around so fast, he nearly smacked Hermann in the face with it.  “Here, take it.”

Hermann took the sweater from him and stared at it for several long moments and Newt tried to give him time to soak it all in, but he was getting more and more nervous the longer the silence stretched onward.

“Dude, say something.  Uh, do you… like it?”

“It’s certainly, ah, unique.”

“Is that a nice way of saying you hate it?  Because it’s totally cool if you do, I mean, a couple people tried to warn me–”

“People?  What people?”

“I, uh, I asked a few people for advice.”

“You put a lot of thought into this.”

“Well, _yeah_ , dude,” Newt said, feeling a little bit offended.  “I wanted to make sure I got things done right.  I did my research.  I just, uh, those patterns are _really_ confusing, y’know?  It said it was a ‘basic’ knitting pattern, but I think what they actually meant was ‘read here to make your eyes bleed and your brain melt’ knitting pattern.”

Hermann laughed softly, giving him a fond look that still made his legs turn kind of noodly even after nearly a year of dating the guy.  “Considering it was your first attempt, I think it turned out rather well.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“You’re not just saying that to make me feel better?”

“Newton, when have you ever known me to be anything other than scathingly honest about my opinions?”

That was a good point.  Newt grinned.  “Yeah, okay.  Well, I’m glad!  I’m glad you like, it dude.  I spent _months_ on that thing.  All it took was time and patience, y’know?  I knew I’d get the hang of it if I kept at it.”

“Yes, about those months of diligent knitting.”

“What about it?”

“You do realize it is mid-June.”

“...Oh.”

**Author's Note:**

> In the interest of full disclosure I have little to no knowledge of knitting, myself, because the few times I've tried to read up on it or have it explained to me, my brain has sort of imploded and it all ends up sounding like gibberish. Since Newt doesn't have a much better idea of what he's doing than I do, though, I think it still works out okay. XD
> 
> The sweater getting finished just in time for summer was inspired by a real life incident where my mom spent a longer-than-expected amount of time crocheting a coat for me, and by the time it was finished it was way to warm to actually wear it. (It turned out awesome, though, which... isn't really relevant, but.)


End file.
